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We invite you all to join us in welcoming our son home from his deployment in Bahrain. This will be an opportunity to meet the entire Phillips Clan, of which most are community members. We are scheduling our next community meeting a little later in the month this month so that everyone has the opportunity to make arrangements to come. We will be meeting at Slate Farms again on the Aug 30th @ 2 pm. We will be in pavilion 1, which is the smallest pavilion, the others were already reserved. If you have folding chairs you may want to bring them. Please bring a dish as usual and we will share a meal. If you’d like to get wet, bring swimwear and a towel. We will try to have activities for kids and adults alike. If you need directions please contact your rep, Chief Red Bear or myself.
Looking forward to seeing you all there!

We send our prayers and condolences to the Dye Family during this time of sorrow. Clint’s mother, Hazel Perkins dropped robes on Sunday July 13th, 2014. We are all with you, Clint and Nancy, in our hearts and our prayers. If anyone would like to attend, the wake will be at the Honaker Funeral Home on Tuesday evening July 15th, 2014 @ 7pm. The funeral will be at Russell Memorial Cemetery on Main St in Lebanon (across from Bonanza) Wed July 16th, 2014 @ 11 am. If you need anything please reach out to the community, we are all with you. Again our Prayers and condolences.
See you in lodge, Grandma!
Mitakuye Oyasin!

Reminder that we are doing a community yard sale in Bandy @ the Bandy Center on Friday, June 6th from 8 am to 12pm. ALL ITEMS WILL BE DONATED. Proceeds from the items that sell will go towards the community and any items that don’t sell will be donated to the Bandy Center for use of their facilities. Please contact your rep if you would like to donate any items to this yard sale.
Thank you!

Chief Red Bear and Audra invite anyone interested in going to lodge to come to their home and participate in this ceremony. This will take place on Sat, June 14th arrival between 2 and 3 pm to help gather firewood for lodge. This is a community activity and anyone who would like to participate should help prepare for the ceremony. Your energy and good prayers are an important part of this ceremony. If you are unable to gather firewood there are other things that can be done in preparation for lodge.

Please bring a item for the meal afterwards, This is very important. Chief Red Bear will go over what to expect and explain the ceremony to those who are present.

Ladies: Please remember that if you are in a sacred way, you will not be able to go into lodge but you are still welcome to come. Dress code for women is a light dress or shorts and a tee shirt. No zippers, snaps or buttons as these will get hot during lodge and could possibly burn you.

Men: Dress code is shorts with no zippers, snaps or buttons, as these may get hot during lodge and could possibly burn you.

To All Participants: Please bring a towel, This is very important to wipe the sweat from your face during lodge to keep the toxins your body will release out of your eyes. No jewelry or metel of any kind can be worn during lodge due to the risk of burning with the heat. You will want to bring what you plan on wearing into lodge separately so that you can change into them when it is close to time to go in. This will allow you to have appropriate clothes for gathering wood and also to have dry clothes to put on when lodge is done.

This ceremony can be very draining, EVERYONE going into lodge is welcome to stay the night to recover from the ceremony before making the drive home. If you plan on staying, please bring pillows and a cover for each person.

Any questions or concerns please contact Chief Red Bear @ 276-870-8716. If you need directions you can contact either Chief Red Bear or your rep and they can provide you with directions.

We are back to scheduling meetings and gatherings again. Please watch your email address for notices from your Representitive for notices of upcoming events. Chief Red Bear will be doing teachings, called Walk with Me, every 3rd Sunday of each month covering varying traditions and ceremonies. Locations will vary so keep an eye on the site and your email for where and what time. Most of these will be scheduled for noon, but times may vary.

We welcome all suggestions for gatherings. If you would like to host an event please contact your rep to schedule a time.

Remember to eat guilt free, worrying about whether or not you should eat something or not stresses the body. You actually react physically when this happens. You have less negative effects if you just eat something with pleasure than if you stress out about it. It is always better to eat healthy, but if your feeling a little naughty this holiday season and you think you may give in, do yourself the favor of just enjoying it and get take a walk with someone you love!!! Love life it’s too short to worry about a few calories!!!

Reminder:
November 16th, 2013 will be our community dinner for the Thanksgiving Holiday or in our case our Giving Thanks Holiday. We will meet at Crab Orchard Museum @ 3pm at the barn. Please RSVP me @ my email address, aphillips6369@gmail.com or call 276-991-6215. If you get voice mail please identify yourself, let me know who you will be bringing and what dish you are bringing. This is very important so we can make sure we have enough food. Please do this by Nov 9th so we can prepare for the meal. There will be no business conducted at this meeting. It is simply a gathering of the community to give thanks. We look forward to seeing you all there!

We have recently been guided to possible sources for land for the community. I have contacted a small list of People who may be able to help us. I’m not sure where this will lead but I do believe it was the Creator’s will to make contact with these people and see what happens. The Chief asked me to post this so that everyone is aware of what we sent. Please add your voice to our prayers as these letters arrive in the hands of the people who were contacted. Thank you.

Copy of Letter sent

Dear Sirs,

I’m writing to you on behalf of the Inter-Tribal Council of Southwest Virginia. Principal Chief Perry “Grey Wolf” Wilson was the founder of the Drums of the Painted Mountain Powwow and the Inter-Tribal Council of Southwest Virginia. The Inter-Tribal Council, along with Southwest Virginia Community College sponsor the Powwow held at the college each year. He also worked, in conjunction with Crab Orchard Museum, to get back the bones of our ancestors, who were found when the highway was put in. Most of these bones have been returned to Mother Earth at the re-enactment site across from the museum, thanks to both parties.

Since Mr. Wilson’s passing back in October, 2012. His grandson, AJ “Red Bear” Phillips and I, Audra Phillips, have continued giving leadership to the Council. Red Bear was voted Principal Chief in May, 2013. He and I decided to, not only carry on the vision of his grandfather, getting the rest of the bones back from the Smithsonian, but also to create community amongst the Natives that currently reside in the area. We began with the already established list of members and have since tripled in size. We have a vision of having land where we can teach and be taught Native ways, where we can have a community garden and provide one another with support in an increasingly difficult economy. If we don’t teach our young about their heritage, this way will die out. This would be a great loss for the people. Since we are inter-tribal we welcome all nations to come and teach or learn about the different traditions.

We have been praying for a place where we can hold our meetings and ceremonies. We have prayed to the Creator to bless us with property where we can have a community center of sorts, where we can sing our prayers and not disturb anyone. Chief “Red Bear” drives by the building located at 20942 Governor GC Peery Hwy, Tazewell, VA, I believe it was once the Hunter’s Den. He asked that I make inquiries about its availability. When I couldn’t find any information online, I went to the Commissioner of Revenue’s office and they gave me your information as someone that I might be able to contact about land that would suit our needs. The woman I spoke to was very helpful and believed you might have some land that would be ideal for our community’s needs. . I am writing to you to see if you have any property that is available and what you would need to allow us to use it for our community meetings and gatherings.

We are just getting started on this particular path in life and are trying to come up with ways the community can help one another to make ends meet. We set up a booth at the powwow to start making money for the Community and have since sold some of our communities “hand-crafted, Native American” items to the Museum and are possibly going to be getting some things into the Art Center as well. The right property could possibly give us a place to craft these items. We would like a place to set up for meetings and gatherings where we can leave items for the next meeting and not have to pack everything up every time we leave. The college has generously offered to allow us to use their facilities, free of charge, for our meetings. We cannot adequately follow our ways and beliefs confined to a public place, such as this. Not to mention having to pack everything up at the conclusion of every meeting.

I feel the Creator led me to your information for a reason and hope that this letter finds you with many blessings and perhaps some answers to our prayers. Thank you very much for your time and we look forward to hearing from you. You can contact either Chief “Red Bear” on his cell phone 484-553-2564 or either one of us at our home phone 276-991-6215. Again, thank you for your time.